Bijapur, Jan 22 (PTI) Security forces on Wednesday recovered eight improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by Maoists in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh, police said.
The explosives, weighing five kilograms each, were unearthed from different places on Mutvendi and Pidia road under Gangaloor police station area when a joint team of the District Reserve Guard (DRG), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), its elite unit CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) and Bomb Disposal Squad (BDS) was out on an area domination and demining operation, a police official said.
Security personnel spotted the IEDs packed in steel boxes planted beneath the dirt track, averting a major mishap, he said.
The pressure switch mechanism was used in the IEDs which were later neutralised by the BDS, he said.
The Maoists often plant IEDs along the road and dirt tracks in forest to target security personnel during patrolling in interior pockets of Bastar region comprising seven districts, including Bijapur.
Civilians have fallen prey to such traps laid by ultras in the past in the region, police said.
On January 17, two personnel of the Border Security Force (BSF) were injured when Naxalites triggered an IED blast in neighbouring Narayanpur district.
A day before that, two commandos of CoBRA were injured when a pressure IED planted by Naxalites went off in Bijapur. On January 12, a 10-year-old girl was injured in Sukma district and two policemen sustained wounds in Bijapur district in similar incidents of pressure IED blasts.
Prior to that on January 10, a villager was killed and three others were injured in two separate incidents of pressure IED blasts in Orchha area of Narayanpur.
On January 6, Naxalites blew up a vehicle with an IED in Bijapur district, killing eight police personnel and their civilian driver. PTI COR TKP NP
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